Cari Fletcher To Sing Live On X Factor Tuesday

Now it gets serious.

Tonight on the Simon Cowell talent show X Factor, student Cari Fletcher is scheduled to perform with her group Lakoda Rayne on television before a live audience as she tries to continue through to the next round of the competition.

Fletcher, 17, that paired the acts down to the final 17. Those acts are scheduled to perform tonight, live. The judges will cut the number of contestants to 12 based on Tuesday’s performances.

The show’s grand prize is a $5 million recording contract and a commercial spot to be aired during next year’s Super Bowl.

Fletcher, a Wall High School senior and a captain of the girls varsity volleyball team, has defied odds and stayed in the competition where thousands of singing hopefuls have failed.

. But later in that same show, the judges announced that Fletcher had been grouped with three other women who were also cut as solo acts. Together, they would be allowed to continue on the competition as a group.

That group met and practiced at Fletcher’s Wall Township home earlier this year before heading off to X Factor judge Paula Abdul’s California estate for the last round of competition. Video footage of the group at Fletcher's house was aired on the show, shot by Wall High School graduate and filmmaker Ryan Hutchins.

Abdul said the group lacked in stage presence and cohesiveness, but she gave the go-ahead for Lakoda Rayne to continue to tonight’s live show.

Fletcher's parents, contacted previously, have said they are barred from speaking to the press for the duration of the show.

The X Factor airs at 8 p.m. Tuesday on the Fox network. It is a special, 2.5-hour show.